Oisin Smyth says St Mirren can compete “at the top end of the table” this season after the Paisley side started their Premiership campaign with an impressive 3-0 win over Hibs on Sunday.
The Northern Irish midfielder signed over the summer from Oxford United and scored twice on his Premiership debut having come off the bench.
Smyth, 24, struggled for minutes at his previous club and is determined to get up to speed as quickly as possible with big matches coming for the Buddies both in Europe and domestically.
“I’ve loved it, to tell you the truth,” Smyth told BBC Sport Scotland. “It’s been tough. Getting minutes into the legs in pre-season was good and then with the two European games it was just about finding my feet again so now I hope I can kick on.
“There’s no reason why we can’t go and compete at the top end of the table this year. I know we’re probably not expected to because we’re obviously limited in terms of what we’ve got but at the same time, Hibs are a top team and we’ve beaten them 3-0 today.
“It was intense. I was only on for 30-35 minutes and it was tough. It’s going to take a bit of getting used to but I can’t wait for the challenge.
“I’ll maybe not expect two goals every week but I’m happy to play wherever I’m wanted and if I can keep getting into the box, hopefully I can keep scoring.”
Smyth is also delighted the club have further European football to look forward to, and he doesn’t want the journey to end with Norwegian side Brann, who come to Paisley this week in the .
“It’s brilliant. We saw the atmosphere the fans brought here on Thursday (against Valur); it was incredible,” Smyth added.
“If we can bring that again, there’s no reason why we can’t go and challenge again and push on into the next round.
“We’re just going to give it our best. We’ve got a decent squad of players so we’re able to rotate so there’s no reason why we can’t go and compete again.”
Oisin Smyth,BBC Sport Scotland,Hibs,Oxford United,Premiership
